


This House Is A Home

by artificial_ink



Series: Rules of Attraction [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Hydra ruins relationships, Kind of dysfunctional relationship, Moving In Together, Over Protective Friend, Relationship Denial, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 12:45:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20115316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificial_ink/pseuds/artificial_ink
Summary: A slight address change for Darcy causes some unforeseen problems at SHIELD. But it's a totally temporary move and Brock Rumlow is NOT her boyfriend, so her friend needs to calm down.





	This House Is A Home

**Author's Note:**

> A new installment into my Rules of Attraction series. About 5 months after Palate Cleanser. 
> 
> Been thinking about this one for a while but never had the full inspiration until I heard Ariana Grande's new song, Boyfriend. Also I apparently needed to vent pent up emotions relating to asshole landlords and feeling like a crazy woman for the first time in my life because of a guy. Also, all reasons why I haven't really been writing much lately. 
> 
> But none of you want to hear about any of my RL issues. So, I hope you enjoy the story ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤

“What in the name of the Madonna, the Britney Spears and the Christina Aguilera is _this_?” Trent hissed, slapping a file onto Darcy’s desk and startling her as she almost choked on a bite of her grilled chicken. Trent was one of two friends Darcy had made at SHIELD. The other, Veronica, had gone up to prowl the vending machines. That left Darcy alone in the archives. Darcy was hoping for some solitude as she started to dig into the farro salad with grilled chicken she and Brock made last night. Obviously, Trent was in a mood so that wasn’t going to happen.

Of course, since no one, not even Trent or Veronica, knew about her dalliances with Brock Rumlow, Darcy wasn’t planning on sharing that bit of information. All Veronica assumed was that Darcy had decided to try healthier food on occasion. Which wasn’t the worst. Brock was a good cook and had developed a talent for deliciously flavouring foods despite his restrictions. Though, he kept complaining Darcy wasn’t using his kitchen knives right when she tried to help. _She_ wasn’t dulling his knives. That’s what happened to knives when they were used.

“Top secret STRIKE Alpha stuff I need to file?” Darcy guessed once she swallowed her bite of chicken. There were some pockets of SHIELD that preferred paper filing and archiving, or simply just weird about transfer of information. Some digital filing systems could only be accessed down in the archives or up in the upper level offices. That meant a surprising amount of hard copies and the occasional USB had to be input into the system or delivered from the archives. Sitwell was one of the weird ones about STRIKE Alpha mission details. Given that Trent was his assistant, Darcy saw her dramatic friend quite a bit in the archives.

“Good guess but no,” Trent said tightly, volume low even though there wasn’t anyone to overhear them. As Darcy pursed her lips, wondering if he wanted her to guess again or give him silence, Trent spoke again. “It’s a change of address notice that was updated about an hour ago.”

“Uh, are you moving?” Darcy asked as innocently as she could. Her throat began to tighten as she tried to keep from widening her eyes. Maybe this was a coincidence…

“No, Darcy. I’m not. But I know that you did,” Trent said smoothly, causing Darcy’s stomach to drop. She had the strong urge to sink down in her chair until she was hiding under her desk but knew that wouldn’t do any good.

“You know I’m kind of between places because my landlord was an asshole,” Darcy reminded him. Out of the blue, her landlord told her she had to leave her place because he was selling the unit. Then a few days later, he insisted there was exposed lead so she had to leave ASAP. Except her unit was the only one with the problem and she was fairly certain he had made it up to kick her out. She’d been an awesome tenant up until then and couldn’t figure out what she’d done wrong.

Both Veronica and Trent offered her their couches but then Brock suggested she move in with him, until she found a place she really wanted. Since he had the space, she eventually agreed with the promise that she’d leave as soon as she could. Neither one of them wanted anything too serious and moving in together kind of said that in capital block letters. Though, last night, Brock had vetoed all the places she showed interest in. He insisted they were all dumps and wouldn’t let her move to such terrible places.

“I’m aware of that. I’m also aware that both Veronica and I offered up our couches to you from the bottom of our kind and selfless hearts,” Trent said, eyebrow quirking up and a tick in the corner of his mouth she’d never seen before. For a moment, she thought there might have been genuine concern and fear in his eyes. It was gone before she could get a second look. 

“You said if I was there for more than a week, I needed to chip in on utilities and that I had to leave if you brought in overnight guests,” Darcy pointed out but Trent just crossed his arms in front of his chest as if _she_ were the one entirely at fault.

“That’s just common curtesy,” he said tersely. “But you didn’t take either one of our offers. You said you were going to rent a room in a house on a month by month basis until you found a place.”

“Which is true. That’s the address that’s probably in the file. Maybe Brock happens to live a house or two down and you got the numbers mixed up? Are you angry that I didn’t have you research the neighbours before I moved in? I was kind of desperate,” Darcy shrugged lightly, trying to do that thing that Trent was so good at. Which was tilting the situation on its head so that he lost all responsibility for something that was his fault. From the glare she now got, he obviously saw through the trick.

“You know what I’ve programed my email to receive alerts on?” Trent asked, lowering his voice to a whisper.

“Address changes for SHIELD employees?” Darcy suggested with a snort, enjoying her own joke until Trent’s face turned steely. She pouted and looked down at her lunch.

“I get alerts for anything STRIKE Alpha related. Sitwell likes to know everything that happens with the Agents. Given what some of these guys can and have done, it’s important to him to watch out for any signs of compromise or psych breaks,” Trent explained and Darcy swallowed past the lump in her throat.

“Sitwell’s a helicopter parent,” Darcy mumbled and was surprised that Trent agreed. “Do the Alpha team know this?”

“It’s a huge violation of privacy but Sitwell has some big names on his side who agree these things need to be monitored. And I get the joy of culling it down for him. So, when I get notified that someone so happens to update their address to match Brock Rumlow’s, I gotta look into it.”

“Brock’s letting out some of his rooms. He said he wasn’t around much and it was between this and Air B&B,” Darcy said, earning a dark laugh from Trent.

“Rumlow doesn’t need supplemental income or the friendly company,” said Trent. “So, what the hell is really going on? I’m serious, Darcy. If I noticed it, someone else is bound to. And it won’t be someone who likes you as much as I do. They’ll ask some nasty questions.”

“Nothing is going on,” Darcy assured him but she kept her eyes on her food as she stuffed her mouth and garbled a messy answer. Why did it matter to anyone at SHIELD, anyway? “Brock and I…had sex a few times and I happened to mention my housing issues in passing in the elevator one day. He said he had a spare room I could stay in.”

“Holy Ariana Grande!” Trent gasped, gears and cogs clicking into place. “Is Rumlow your boyfriend? How the hell did you keep this a secret?”

“No!” Darcy scoffed. Then scoffed two more times for good measure. “Of course not!”

“His ‘guy talk’ about all his sluts has gone down significantly,” Trent said, more to himself, as he pursed his lips and tapped his chin. “Just talks about one woman, even if he tries to paint her as a few different ones. I just _knew_ he’s been smitten lately but couldn’t prove it.

“Really?” Darcy sat up straighter, unable to hide the hope in her voice or the smile that broke out on her face. She let out a sigh of relief. “I mean, he’s been so hard to read and sometimes I don’t know what to think about him. But he’s been acting smitten?”

“No. That was a lie and you fell for it,” said Trent quickly. Darcy let out a strangled wheeze. Her cheeks were hot and she knew she was red as a cherry. Also, her heart sank to her feet with each painful thudding beat. “I can’t believe you’ve been screwing him on the down low and now you’ve moved in with him? What is wrong with you? How long has this been going on?” 

“That was so, so rude,” Darcy shook her head, trying to shake off the tears that threatened the corners of her eyes. “You’re an asshole.”

“I’m an asshole looking out for you,” Trent said but his voice was gentler this time. “Rumlow doesn’t do relationships nor is he in a place for them.”

“How would you know?” Darcy asked, noting the high pitch sound that apparently was coming out of her throat. Taking a long, slow breath, she told herself to calm down and the tears prickling at her eyes to stop. When she felt more composed, she continued in a neutral tone. “Besides, he’s not my boyfriend. We’ve agreed to keep it to fuck acquaintances level.”

“How long have the two of you been ‘fuck acquaintances?” Trent asked and Darcy wrinkled her nose. With such a pointed question, it was harder to avoid answering.

“It’s only been…,” Darcy puffed out her cheeks, letting out a slow breath and pretended to calculate. Even though she knew the number quite well. “I think, maybe, five months?”

“What?” Trent shrieked, bringing his volume back down after a pained attempt at a calming inhale of breath. “You’ve been dating him for five months and now you live together? That’s a boyfriend, sweetie.”

"_Not _dating. _Not_ boyfriend. And this isn’t a permanent situation. He and I fuck. No emotions at all. So, what’s the big deal?” Darcy asked with a shrug. Keeping her gaze forward and refusing to meet Trent’s probing stare, she lifted her chin slightly and knew she looked like a petulant child. She’d left out a couple of details that might cause more unnecessary judgement. Like how she didn’t have interest in having sex with anyone else at the moment. Or how Brock said he was too lazy to try and find anyone other than Darcy for ‘perks’. Or how Brock always joked it was like she practically lived with him before her landlord problems. Which totally wasn’t true because she was only there when he was in town. And only sometimes on her own since he gave her a key and had a nicer bathtub.

“It’s dangerous, Darcy,” urged Trent as his eyes widened in fear. She noticed his Adam’s apple bob but he let out a huff and shook his head, as if berating himself. She frowned but decided to not focus on his strange reaction. Trent rarely ever showed what he called ‘weak’ emotions. Maybe he was genuinely worried that Brock would do her wrong.

“How? I thought you wanted me to rebound. You know, have a palate cleanser,” Darcy said slowly, carefully picking her words before adding a quick, “this technically was your fault.”

“_Rumlow_ was your rebound?” Trent asked and this time, Darcy noticed he looked more shocked than anything. For a second, his jaw dropped open. “Whilst I would normally be proud of you for getting your slut on, do not pin this on me. I wanted you to fuck a dumb, hot guy you had nothing in common with so you would never develop any feelings. You don’t boyfriend your palate cleanser! You fuck and move on. Domesticating a palate cleanser is asking for a mess! It’s how crazy women are made. This would never have happened if you just fucked Big Dick Rick like I suggested.” 

“Brock’s _not_ my boyfriend. And I’m not crazy,” Darcy insisted, refusing to admit that on occasion Brock did make her feel like she was going straight down to crazy town. He was so hard to read because he sent such mixed signals. Sometimes, talking about how he was so glad she was ‘so cool’ about ‘casual sex’ but then just wanting to cuddle on the couch all night. Said he didn’t want a girlfriend and then flipped out when Agent Calhan from STRIKE Team Theta wouldn’t stop joke-proposing to Darcy. He was super affectionate whenever they were alone. He made her feel so cared for and attended to in a way that turned Ian’s attempts at sweet talk laughable. But just as much as Brock was wonderful, he would just as often become withdrawn and standoffish. For some reason, it irked her to no end. So, she’d snap and start a big fight. It usually ended in toe curling sex but she knew deep down it probably wasn’t healthy human interactions.

Darcy kept telling herself she deserved a hot, attractive man after Ian’s bullshit. This was a short-term reward she should enjoy. Nothing was going to be perfect so she shouldn’t expect it to be. 

“Besides, I’m an adult,” Darcy pointed out with finality, clasping her hands and settling them on her desk. “I can have sex with him if I want.”

Instead of a terse, witty reply, Trent chewed slightly on his bottom lip as he seemed to size up Darcy. She met his gaze head on. After a long moment, he continued but without any of his usual bravado or dramatics. “Look, I’ve seen how Brock treats women. He’s all hot and interested at first, then he ghosts them. Quite a few times, Sitwell has me handle the mess afterwards and it’s not pretty. Brock just…has a habit of making women lose their sense and I don’t think he means it. It’s just, women tend to go a little violent after being with Brock. As a friend, and I do not use that term lightly, I don’t want that to happen to you.”

“It won’t because I’m not emotional about this,” Darcy said with as much conviction she could muster but that didn’t fool either one of them. She did have emotions when it came to Brock. She was practically drowning in them and it was taking all her energy to keep them repressed.

“You practically jumped up when you thought he was smitten with you. And now you share an address. It’s a recipe for utter disaster. And I refuse to clean it up,” Trent threw up his hands. Darcy was now fully offended. She and Brock were consenting adults. No one needed to jump in and save them from themselves.

“I’m not asking you to clean it up because there’s not gonna be anything to clean up. We’re both adults. We know what we’re doing. I’ll be fine,” Darcy snapped.

“He’s a train wreck and you bought a one-way ticket into the fire filled crash,” said Trent. Darcy was taken back that he was now focusing on Brock’s issues. “I will not be there with a fire extinguisher.”

“Who’s a train wreck?” Veronica asked suddenly, popping out of nowhere with handfuls of chips, candies and soda. Her goal had been to replenish their snack drawer and she appeared to be quite successful. Before Darcy could even bluster a semi-legitimate lie, Trent beat her to it.

“Lindsey Lohan. Darcy was thinking about following her on Twitter.”

“I mean, if it’s going to be an entertaining train wreck, why not?” Veronica said, quirking her head at the topic but not questioning it.

“See, Veronica agrees,” Darcy said with a smug smile. If Veronica actually knew what was happening, she’d 100% be on Darcy’s side.

“Veronica doesn’t know the full picture about her. There’s a lot of information she’s lacking,” Trent shot back. He and Darcy locked eyes, trying to argue with just intense stares.

“Child star who went crazy on drugs? What’s there to know? If she doesn’t like the tweets, then she can unfollow her. Easy peasy,” shrugged Veronica, blissfully unaware of the real topic and too blissed out by her snack haul. As Veronica hummed happily to herself whilst hiding the snacks in various places, Trent offered Darcy one last pointed look before he grabbed the file and walked away. It said their conversation wasn’t over and she really wasn’t looking forward to the conclusion. He would invite her back to his, ply her with alcohol and somehow convince her he was right all along. Possibly with a power point. He was good at that. 

But Darcy refused to admit he was right. She and Brock were doing just fine. She’d find a new place soon enough, so the living together thing was a moot point. As sweet as it was for Trent to care about Darcy’s wellbeing, he was being way too pushy about it. Even if he thought he knew what was best, it didn’t mean it was best for Darcy. For once in her life, she was getting quality dick and surprisingly, quality cuddles. Brock was a good cuddler despite his low body fat. Obviously, she knew they had an expiration date. Maybe when she moved out- that would be it. If anything, telling Trent that might give him peace of mind.


End file.
